https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-7CvBtgvGk
A hearing on Friday concluded two days of arguments in a case brought by South Africa, a longtime critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, against Israel for the alleged crime of genocide against Palestinians. The case is being heard before the United Nations' International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The court's 15 judges were joined by one judge each from South Africa and Israel.
In nearly three hours of testimony, lawyers and experts on behalf of South Africa presented evidence arguing that Israel's three-month-long military campaign in Gaza has gone beyond war with Hamas — the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, according to Israel. The South African legal team argued Israel's offensive now includes all 2 million Palestinians who reside in Gaza.
"The level of Israel's killing is so extensive that nowhere is safe in Gaza," South African lawyer Adila Hassim said to the court.
"As I stand before you today, 23,210 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during the sustained attacks over the last three months," said Hassim, "at least 70% of whom are believed to be women and children."
Hassim said the Israeli military dropped 6,000 bombs a week on Gaza in the first three weeks of its campaign and dropped 2,000-pound bombs onto areas declared safe by Israel, including refugee camps.
As a result, she said, more than 1,800 families in Gaza have lost multiple family members, and 85% of all Gazans have been forced to flee their homes.
"This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life," Hassim said. "It is inflicted deliberately. No one is spared. Not even newborn babies. The scale of Palestinian child killings in Gaza is such that U.N. chiefs have described it as a 'graveyard for children.' "
South Africa's delegation insisted that genocidal intent is shown not only by the way Israel has launched its military campaign but by comments from leaders like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In late October in an address to Israeli forces, Netanyahu invoked the story of Amalek, a figure in the Hebrew Bible who tried to destroy the Jewish people.
"This refers to the biblical command by God to Saul of the retaliatory destruction of an entire group of people," said South African legal scholar Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who said Netanyahu's reference was meant to justify genocide.
Netanyahu responded swiftly to South Africa's testimony. "The hypocrisy of South Africa knows no bounds," he said in a video statement immediately following the first day of testimony in The Hague. "The state of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide."
In Israel's opening arguments before the court on Friday, Israeli lawyer Tal Becker said Israel is "singularly aware" of why the Genocide Convention was adopted, referring to the systematic murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, which gave birth to the convention invoked in these proceedings.
"The applicant has now sought to invoke this term in the context of Israel's conduct in a war it did not start and did not want," Becker said, "a war in which Israel is defending itself against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organisations whose brutality knows no bounds."
While the court proceedings unfolded, demonstrators outside the Peace Palace made their voices heard. Palestinian and Israeli protesters gathered, watching the trial on large screens. In a tense atmosphere, Palestinian protesters expressed their dissatisfaction with Israel's defense by chanting slogans such as "Yalancı" (liar).
The trial, which has garnered international attention, will now await further developments as the court evaluates the arguments presented by both parties.
However, there is no doubt at all that Israel is guilty of some of the worst atrocities committed by any nation in history against another nation. All one has to do is turn on the television to see what is taking place daily to know that reality. The IDF are monsters impersonating as men and surely they must be brought to justice for their horrible war crimes. What they are engaged in is far worse than anything Hitler ever did to the Jews in the Second World War.
Storming a building taking out all the men and shooting them in the back is inexcusable. They all had families and small children. Anyone who condones these sorts of actions are just as bad as the perpetrators themselves. All of this is an abomination against the whole of humanity, not just Palestine.
The bombing is never ceasing and goes on day and night, while they are virtually being starved to death due to Israel blocking their supplies of water, food and medicine at the border. Worse still is that the whole world knows what is going on with the United States blocking one UN resolution after another which allows the bombing to continue. If they get Trump as their next president there can't be any doubts they will get what they deserve.
Let us hope and pray that these Israeli behemoths get what they have coming to them as they must, according to the prophecies of the Bible.
Blessings
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